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15
Jul
‘People have lost trust in public services’, says North Yorkshire deputy mayor
Nearly two months since she was first unveiled to the public, Joe Coles has taken up the role as North Yorkshire's deputy mayor for police, fire and crime.
The former chief of staff to Yvette Cooper has found the delay in starting her role frustrating.
She was announced as the preferred candidate for the position in May and appeared before a confirmation panel on June 19, but had to wait another three weeks to take up the role formally.
But, despite the delay in starting work, she has already identified a number of issues to tackle - primarily restoring public confidence in policing.
In her first interview with the Stray Ferret, Ms Coles also said she would also look at funding for the fire service in North Yorkshire, which is among the lowest funded in the country.
On a wet Tuesday morning in Northallerton, the new Labour deputy mayor was sworn into her role after taking the oath of office.
In front of an audience which included Tim Fober, the chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, and Jonathan Dyson, the chief fire officer at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Ms Coles spoke of her desire to restore confidence in the county’s police force.
Speaking to the Stray Ferret afterwards, she said part of the reason for a lack of confidence in the force was down to the lack of reporting crime.
I think we have got far too many people who do not report crimes when they happen.
That means we do not know what is going on in our communities because they are not reporting those crimes.
She added that victims of crime also required support from the force in order to ensure that they do not “feel let down” after reporting crime.
Fire funding concerns
Ms Coles has already spoken with Yvette Cooper, the new home secretary, over the national priorities for policing.
But perhaps her biggest challenge comes from the fire service.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue is among the lowest funded in the country and has gone through significant change over the last two years.
Jo Coles, deputy mayor for police, fire and crime.
Zoe Metcalfe, the previous Conservative police, fire and crime commissioner, introduced a controversial plan to cut the number of overnight fire engines in Harrogate and Scarborough from two to one.
The move formed part of the commissioner’s risk and resource model, which set out how the fire service will deploy its resources over the next three years. It puts the emphasis on fire prevention, especially during the day when most fires occur.
However, it was heavily criticised by North Yorkshire’s Fire Brigade Union
Ms Coles said she planned to meet the FBU to hear the concerns it had.
She said:
I will absolutely be meeting with the FBU to hear what their concerns are around firefighter safety. It’s one of my earliest priorities.
I am frustrated that I haven’t had time to meet with them already.
I need to meet with them to hear what their frustrations are, because ultimately the fire service lives on the equipment, resourcing and training that we give to our firefighters.
But, the concerns over the service also extend to how it is funded.
Last year, the maximum amount mandated by government that Ms Metcalfe could increase the service’s precept by was 2.99% - or £15.
The former Tory commissioner had pledged to lobby government for more flexibility, but this did not materialise.
When asked whether she felt the new Labour administration would give her leverage on matters such as funding the fire service, Ms Coles said:
I haven’t had detailed meetings about the fire budget yet, but I know it is a priority and I know it is something we need to look at urgently.
The role of the chief fire officer is to talk to me about where the resourcing is at currently and what is needed and what his assessment of that is in terms of what else we need to do.
Ms Coles added that budgets were tight when it comes to the national government.
She said:
There’s no point pretending otherwise, we know that budgets are tight across the board. We know that other public services such as health education are also crumbling.
No one should be pretending that it's all going to be fine, it’s difficult. But we do need to look at how we make things work in the best possible way for our residents and that’s my job. I’m here to advocate for what our residents need and, of course, I will do that on the advice of the chief fire officer.
Jo Coles signing the oath of office with Simon Dennis, chief executive of the Office for Police, Fire, Crime and Commissioning.
This week is the start of a four year term for Ms Coles.
Speaking about what she would like to achieve in that time, she returns to to theme of rebuilding confidence.
Part of her aim as deputy mayor is to restore trust in public services, she said, in particular policing.
She added that there was a feeling among the public that some services were no working for them, which she described as “devastating”.
Ms Coles said:
People have lost trust. Not particularly in individual people, but in a sense that if you need public services currently they are not necessarily going to be there for you.
That is devastating for someone like me who believes in the importance of having really good public services.
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